Tweet
.. and lower living standards (more taxes) to pay for them, presumably.
Who will rid us of this turbulent priest? (more-of-the-same Gordon, presumably, or more-of-the-same David).
Britain must keep its role as a war-fighting power, says Blair
Tony Blair responded yesterday to growing pressure from military commanders by accepting that more money would have to be spent on the Armed Forces to improve their conditions and equipment and to enable Britain to remain a war-fighting power.
In a lecture defending his policy of interventionism, the Prime Minister said that the new challenges from worldwide terrorism required new commitments to be made to the Forces.
The covenant between the Armed Forces, the Government and the people had to be renewed, which for the Government meant spending more on equipment, personnel and conditions, Mr Blair said.
His words were seen as clear advice to Gordon Brown, his expected successor, that more money will be needed for defence if Britain is to maintain its influence in the world.
Retreating in the face of the terrorist enemy would be a catastrophe, Mr Blair said. Terrorism could not be defeated by military means alone, but it could not be defeated without it. In remarks that could also have been aimed in the direction of Mr Brown, he added that poverty in Africa could not be solved by the presence of aid. It also needed the absence of conflict, and failed states threatened other countries as well as their own people.
Mr Blair’s words were welcomed by Forces chiefs and the Tories. The chairman of the Commons Defence Select Committee, the Tory MP James Arbuthnot, gave the speech an “unreserved welcome”. He said: “The Prime Minister is recognising both the strain under which the Armed Forces are operating and the steps needed to put it right.”
Mr Blair said that there were nations that did fighting and peacekeeping and those that had retreated to peacekeeping alone. Britain did both and should continue to do so.
On board HMS Albion in Plymouth, Mr Blair delivered an address that had been trailed as one of the most important before he leaves office.
He said that generally the Armed Forces were superbly equipped. “But talk . . . to serving soldiers and there will be, among the pride, some anger at faulty weapons or ammunition, boots and body armour, the right vehicles or the wrong ones, and the problems of transport to and from the battlefield and home,” he said.
“Single living accommodation, in particular, and also a minority of family accommodation is below standard, though being improved.”
While insisting that defence spending had been roughly constant since 1997 and was still one of the highest in the world, Mr Blair crucially accepted the argument of the military that commitments were greater than expected and that service personnel were working harder and for longer than intended.
The Ministry of Defence was committed to improving homes for military families but he admitted that there were still “real problems”.
Mr Blair said that the public had to recognise the importance of military campaigns carried out by Britain to international security.
“They need to be prepared for the long as well as the short campaign, to see our participation alongside allies in such conflict not as an atavistic, misguided attempt to recapture past glories, but as a necessary engagement in order for us to protect our security and advance our interests and values in the modern world,” he said.
Who will rid us of this turbulent priest? (more-of-the-same Gordon, presumably, or more-of-the-same David).
Britain must keep its role as a war-fighting power, says Blair
Tony Blair responded yesterday to growing pressure from military commanders by accepting that more money would have to be spent on the Armed Forces to improve their conditions and equipment and to enable Britain to remain a war-fighting power.
In a lecture defending his policy of interventionism, the Prime Minister said that the new challenges from worldwide terrorism required new commitments to be made to the Forces.
The covenant between the Armed Forces, the Government and the people had to be renewed, which for the Government meant spending more on equipment, personnel and conditions, Mr Blair said.
His words were seen as clear advice to Gordon Brown, his expected successor, that more money will be needed for defence if Britain is to maintain its influence in the world.
Retreating in the face of the terrorist enemy would be a catastrophe, Mr Blair said. Terrorism could not be defeated by military means alone, but it could not be defeated without it. In remarks that could also have been aimed in the direction of Mr Brown, he added that poverty in Africa could not be solved by the presence of aid. It also needed the absence of conflict, and failed states threatened other countries as well as their own people.
Mr Blair’s words were welcomed by Forces chiefs and the Tories. The chairman of the Commons Defence Select Committee, the Tory MP James Arbuthnot, gave the speech an “unreserved welcome”. He said: “The Prime Minister is recognising both the strain under which the Armed Forces are operating and the steps needed to put it right.”
Mr Blair said that there were nations that did fighting and peacekeeping and those that had retreated to peacekeeping alone. Britain did both and should continue to do so.
On board HMS Albion in Plymouth, Mr Blair delivered an address that had been trailed as one of the most important before he leaves office.
He said that generally the Armed Forces were superbly equipped. “But talk . . . to serving soldiers and there will be, among the pride, some anger at faulty weapons or ammunition, boots and body armour, the right vehicles or the wrong ones, and the problems of transport to and from the battlefield and home,” he said.
“Single living accommodation, in particular, and also a minority of family accommodation is below standard, though being improved.”
While insisting that defence spending had been roughly constant since 1997 and was still one of the highest in the world, Mr Blair crucially accepted the argument of the military that commitments were greater than expected and that service personnel were working harder and for longer than intended.
The Ministry of Defence was committed to improving homes for military families but he admitted that there were still “real problems”.
Mr Blair said that the public had to recognise the importance of military campaigns carried out by Britain to international security.
“They need to be prepared for the long as well as the short campaign, to see our participation alongside allies in such conflict not as an atavistic, misguided attempt to recapture past glories, but as a necessary engagement in order for us to protect our security and advance our interests and values in the modern world,” he said.
I'm anti-interventionist, and thus the antithesis of Mr Blair.
Comment